1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and a system for communicating between parties, of which at least one party is an airborne party.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional communications systems allow radio-frequency (RF) communications between an airborne party, for example, on an airplane, and a ground-based party. Due to the limited radio-frequency (RF) bandwidth available for an aircraft-to-ground link, only a small number of airborne callers can use such a system at any one time. When a particular aircraft-to-ground link is filled to capacity, calls from an aircraft are placed into a queue until a channel becomes available. This is inconvenient for some callers because the purpose of the call was to convey a short message to another party and by being placed in a queue causes the call to take much longer than should be necessary. What is needed is a system that allows an airborne caller to leave a message for a ground-based caller without waiting for an aircraft-to-ground channel to become available. What is also needed is a system that compresses messages, thereby efficiently using the aircraft-to-ground bandwidth.
The present invention provides a method and a communications system that allows airborne callers to leave voice, data, or fax messages for intended recipients who are ground-based. The messages are stored on an airborne platform until sufficient bandwidth becomes available for transmission to a ground-based station. Transmitting messages requires correspondingly shorter air time and results in an efficient bandwidth usage because messages do not require a high degree of interaction between parties. The present invention further provides a system that compresses a stored message before transmission so that aircraft-to-ground bandwidth is used efficiently.
The advantages of the present invention are provided by a method and a communications system that includes a plurality of aircraft telephone units, a control unit coupled to the aircraft telephone units, a memory device that stores messages when communication bandwidth is unavailable, and a transceiver that sends and receives calls and messages to and from ground stations. An airborne party is given the option of storing a message or waiting to place the call directly when sufficient bandwidth becomes available. A stored message can be compressed before transmission and decompressed after reception, making shorter broadcast times possible. The caller is given the option of having a message sent directly to an intended recipient, or to an answering service, and a delivery receipt is transmitted to the originator of the message. Messages can be a voice message, an e-mail message, a fax message, or a data message. The message can be divided into a plurality of packets that are each transmitted separately for further improving efficient bandwidth usage.